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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211393">A Vow of Virtue</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkythegoldfish/pseuds/snarkythegoldfish'>snarkythegoldfish</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Backstory, Prompt Fill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:20:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24211393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkythegoldfish/pseuds/snarkythegoldfish</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompted by my FFXIV group:<br/>What is a significant event in the childhood/early teen years of your character that had a prolific impact on them later in life or throughout their adulthood?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Vow of Virtue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There's an unspoken rule at sea, that if one is Hale and able, you must pull your weight. Senah'to being small and scrawny often wondered if pulling his weight during his thirteenth summer was more secretly double. He ran himself to near exhaustion every day just to keep up with everyone. The ship had been his home for nearly six summers now. He trained with the first mate to become strong, learned how to count to take stock and memorized the stars in his training to navigate at night. His nocturnal disposition made it easy. </p>
<p>        On this particular night, Pfarwyb, Captain of the Rainy Dawn, and Senah'to's adoptive mother, pulled him aside and crouched down to look him in the eyes. She always felt leagues taller than him, but when they stood like this Senah'to could see the weathered face of his mother rather than the stern face of his captain. </p>
<p>        "Koelfryn," her tone was firm, serious. He straightened his back instantly. "Tonight we have a very important task for you."</p>
<p>        "Aye Captain!" His voice squeaked, brow furrowed and serious. Senah'to wondered if he imagined the wrinkles beside her eyes crinkling in an unseen grin.</p>
<p>        "We're passing through pirate territory tonight. It's a bold move, but this delivery is urgent and we've got the best crew to handle it. However, we run risk of attack." </p>
<p>        The air grew heavy very suddenly. Senah'to understood the gravity of the situation, but normally, he would have been left ashore for the voyage. Uncertainty crept into his heart. </p>
<p>        "What is my task, Captain?" </p>
<p>        "I need you to climb into the nest with this bell," she pulled from her side a brass bell the size of his fist, "Tonight the moon is a bare sliver, which makes it hard to see. You, my little coeurl, have the best eyesight of us all tonight. Keep watch over the seas, and give us as much warning as you can, if you spy anything."</p>
<p>          Pfarwyb took the young Keeper's shaking hands and placed in it the bell. It felt as though it weighed as much as he did in that moment. He took one look at his mother's face, swallowed hard and did his best to muster confidence. His crew was counting on him to keep them safe. To keep HER safe. </p>
<p>         He stormed up to the ladder leading to the nest, and ascended with his eyes on the slivered moon the whole time.</p>
<p>----------</p>
<p>        Hours went by, frigid winds whirled about him and seemed to scream to distract him, but they guided them on their voyage still. His eyes peered into the darkness, blinking tears brought on by the cold each few minutes. A memory came to him, as he looked up to the moon in passing glance. A memory of prayer. Foggy, and misshapen as it was in his minds eye. His mouth began moving along, a prayer of safety under the eyes of Menphina. </p>
<p>       The prayer's end was punctuated by the subtle sound of an oar slapping the oceans surface. </p>
<p>       Blinking the cold away again, he narrowed his eyes and scoped the waters. Just as he began to think he had imagined it, it came again. He readied the bell, holding the brass to keep it silent as he whirled around. Where had it come from?</p>
<p>     His ears twitched this way and that, until a cough gave the game away. He whirled around, stared pointedly in the direction it came from and when a moonlit face peered up from the sea, seemingly at him-- he shook the bell as hard as his arm allowed. </p>
<p>----</p>
<p>       Chaos erupted. Far below him he watched as the villainous pirates clambered up the sides with axes and swords. He was safe here in the nest, in the eyes of Menphina and embrace of Llymlaen, but the crew wasn't. Something burned in his chest, anger and something else. It drove him over the wooden boards of the crows nest and down to the galley below. </p>
<p>        This was his ship, his crew and family. He spied a discarded sword and hefted it up. He charged the nearest pirate and took him by surprise. The advantage didn't last long, however. In a matter of seconds, the young Keeper was disarmed. The roegadyn pirate picked him up by his arm and tossed him into a railing. Pain wracked his body and he heard the man call him a cursed whelp. His crew was losing ground. Senah'to saw his Captain locked in combat, as the man who threw him aside advanced on her with his axe raised. </p>
<p>       That feeling in him became too powerful to ignore. He ran at the taller man, and with an angry yowl threw his whole body at him from behind. He clung to the pirate and began to beat at him, dodging his grasping hands. He'd created a distraction without realizing. A moment's hesitation as the pirates tried to make sense of what was happening. It was all Pfawryb and the others needed to take the upper hand.</p>
<p>       The pirates were quickly overpowered and dispatched after that. Driven off the ship or killed, all that was left was the mess to clean up. Senah'to stood over the sword he'd lost, looking at his bloodied knuckles and claws. He hadn't been disarmed, afterall it had seemed. Large, green hands took his in, and started to dress them. It was his mother. </p>
<p>       "That was foolish of you!" She chastised him with an edge in her voice he was all too familiar with. "You could have been killed!"</p>
<p>       "So could you." Senah'to's voice rang solemn, "I couldn't let them hurt you." Couldn't lose a mother again, he thought.</p>
<p>       Weary eyes peered into his, as if reading that thought. "I know." She smiled, "There's a thin line separating bravery and foolishness, Senah'to. You managed to tread it, however." She finished wrapping his hands. "I need you to level your head though. We're not out of it yet." She ruffled his hair as she stood up. "Get back in the nest, and this time stay there. Swear it?" </p>
<p>       He paused, as if about to argue. A stern look left it unspoken, however. "Aye Captain!" </p>
<p>-----</p>
<p>       Though the rest of the night passed without incident, Senah'to stewed over where he'd gone wrong. Swords were too heavy still and axes were out of the question. How could a runt like himself help defend his crew? His eyes drifted down to his wrapped knuckles and had a thought. </p>
<p>      "If I can't wield a weapon.. I'll train to be a weapon. Then I'll never be defenseless again." The idea brought him comfort, even if he didn't yet know how he'd go about it. Turning his gaze to the moon, fading in the dawns light, he quietly offered his thanks.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Apologies if this seems rushed I was very excited to feel the rush of writing again!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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